The Central African Customs and Economic Union: Theory and Practice

Abstract

<p> This paper is an attempt to examine the effects of economic integration in the Central African Customs and Economic Union. The focus is on one form of economic integration, the customs union. A review of the theoretical literature indicates that customs unions should bring changes in the patterns of production, consumption and trade of the countries involved, and would be advantageous through the enlargement of markets, stimulus to investment and competition. From the locational point of view, the formation of customs unions could aggravate the clustering tendencies of industries to few attractive locations resulting in a polarized form of development. </p> <p> The examination of the Central African Customs and Economic Union shows that little change has been achieved in the first decade of the union. It appears that the traditional theory of customs union which was originally designed for the industrial countries is of limited applicability for the developing countries. It is suggested in the paper that the theory should be adapted to the particular characteristics and needs of developing countries and that, since economic integration is partly based on concepts from the location theory, more work is needed to examine economic integration and customs union in the context of location theory. </p>